Adapting ourselves to adaptive content

For years, we've been telling designers: the web is not print. You can't have pixel-perfect layouts. You can't determine how your site will look in every browser, on every platform, on every device.
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For years, we've been telling designers: the web is not print. You can't have pixel-perfect layouts. You can't determine how your site will look in every browser, on every platform, on every device. We taught designers to cede control, think in systems, embrace web standards. So why are we still letting content authors plan for where their content will "live" on a web page? Why do we give in when they demand a WYSIWYG text editor that works "just like Microsoft Word"? Worst of all, why do we waste time and money creating and recreating content instead of planning for content reuse? What worked for the desktop web simply won't work for mobile. As our design and development processes evolve, our content workflow has to keep up. Karen will talk about how we have to adapt to creating more flexible content.

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“You can’t afford to create a piece of content forany one platform.Instead of crafting a website, you have to putmore effort into crafting the description of thedifferent bits of an asset, so they can be reusedmore effectively, so they can deliver more value. —Nic Newman, BBC Nimble Report, http://nimble.razorfish.com 5

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We’re about to usher in a golden age of PDFs on the iPad. Paul Ford, Ftrain.com 20

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“Existing art and production staffers from the printside would be responsible for making two iPadlayouts (one in portrait and one in landscape) onAdobe’s platform.—Condé Nast Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties http://www.observer.com/2011/07/scott-dadich-ipad-conde-nast/?show=all 21

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All I see is an entire organization screaming,“WE WANT IT TO BE THE EIGHTIES GODDAMMIT.” Condé Nast Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties 22

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“Over the last year, NPR’s total page view growth hasincreased by more than 80%. How did we get thatmuch growth? Our API.The biggest impact that the API has made, however, iswith our mobile strategy. The API has enabled NPRproduct owners to build specialized apps on a widerange of platforms and devices, liberating them frombeing dependent on custom development to accessthe content. Through this process, we built our iPhoneand iPad apps, mobile sites, open sourced Android appand HTML5 site, some of which were turned around ina matter of weeks! —Zach Brand, Senior Director Technology, NPR 40

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“Traditional publishing and content managementsystems bind content to display and deliverymechanisms, which forces a recycling approach formulti-platform publishing.A semantic content publishing system, on theother hand, creates well-defined chunks of contentthat can be combined in whatever way is mostappropriate for a particular platform. All displayissues are addressed by delivery applications,rather than by a content management systemearlier in the process. —Dan Willis http://dswillis.com/uxcrank/?p=378 55

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“The happier people are, the better their contentwill be, the more content they’ll produce.Digital newsrooms have moved from shoveling tocreating. Those two tasks require very differentenvironments. —Patrick Cooper, NPR http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/digital-strategies/134791/4-ways-content-management-systems-are-evolving-why-it-matters-to-journalists/ 67

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Page Title Example: Widget-o-Rama: FancyWidget No. 5PRODUCT DESCRIPTION—ANSWERS THE QUESTION “WHAT IS IT?”Product NameProduct LineShort Guidelines: Two sentences. The product description should answer the questionsDescription “What is it?” “Who is it for?” and “What does it do?” The description must include at least one real, actual noun besides the name of the Example description: Widget-o-Rama’s FancyWidget product. No. 5 is an inverse reactive current supply mechanism used for operating nofer-trunnions and reducing sinusoidal depleneration when used in conjunction with a drawn reciprocating dingle arm.PRODUCT BENEFITS—ANSWERS THE QUESTION “WHY SHOULD I BUY IT?”Beneﬁt/Feature Guidelines: Benefits are about the customerPairs and answer the question, “What will this do for me?” Features are about the product and answer the question, “How does the product work?” On the Widget-o-Rama website, they should come in pairs consisting of a very Examples: specific benefit, followed by the feature or Reduces maintenance costs by up to 50% by features that make it possible. Use concrete replacing delicate gremlin studs with a robust spiral terms whenever you can. decommutator and eliminating the need for drammock oil after phase detractors are remissed. Prevents side fumbling via the addition of pentametric fan consisting of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes fitted to the ambifacient lunar vaneshaft. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/content-templates-to-the-rescue/ 73